South Dakota’s counties, which receive no sales tax revenue, suffer a chronic lack of funding.
The interim legislative committee tasked with studying the issue heard more input from county officials at their latest meeting Wednesday.
They say without another funding source South Dakota counties large and small will be feeling the same funding squeezes they’ve grown accustomed to – often falling at the feet of services.
Take Sheriff Jason Weber of Jerauld County. The president of the state Sheriff’s Association, he used an example of a mentally ill inmate to show how costs add up.
“We’re a county of 2,200 people, we’re 535 square miles," Weber said. "It might not seem like a lot, but it’s cases like that that cause financial strain on our small counties. He’s a young guy, he could be there for a long time, could cost us a lot of money, but that’s just one case or one instance that causes financial burden on our counties.”
The challenge comes when navigating the waters of potential tax increases or redistribution of liquor tax dollars. With some like Rapid City Sen. David Johnson saying he’d vote against any tax increases, Canton Sen. Jim Bolin said there are ways to increase support for counties without opening that door.
“At the present time, I believe it’s actually handled in an unfair manner in which the state, which does not have the original jurisdiction to deal with these problems is gaining the benefit from the sale of this particular substance," Bolin said. "When, in reality, the greater share of the revenue that comes from the sale should go to the directly counties initially because they are the ones that have to deal with this problem.”
Rapid City Sen. Helene Duhamel, who is also a county employee as the public information officer for the Pennington County Sheriff's Office, is a member of the committee. She said after years, county governments are tired of being on the raw end of the deal.
“You can call it what you want but that’s what happens, they’re diverting the dollars for the 20 years or so from the counties, and that’s really a part of Pennington County’s problem," Duhamel said. "Schools are held harmless, but counties are not, and it is the way we develop. TIFs (Tax increment financing) aren’t bad, but we have to figure out a way that counties somehow can be part of that conversation more than just to a minority position on a TIF board, where you can’t stop it anyway.”
The next meeting of the board is scheduled for Sept. 13.